Bridgewater Associates interview questions

Bridgewater is a very odd place. The culture shock at the firm will be profound if you've ever worked anywhere else. I couldn't imagine staying there for even a year. I'm a senior manager at a well known financial company right now. I have an excellent background in terms of education and experience. No doubt that's why I got the interview. The two phone screens had gone very well. It was when I actually made it out to Westport, however, that I saw how horrible and depressing the place was. During a full day of interviews I don't think I saw a single person smile or laughing. There seemed to be a complete lack of normal human emotions in the staff. It appeared as if I had wandered onto a set for a movie about zombies or androids. As to the interviews, those led by the senior staff went fine. These are people who had worked at other places and somehow managed to successfully transition to BA. But the junior people who participated in the interviews were horrendous. They acted as if they knew something when it was so clear they simply parroted Dalio's points like early Communists quoting Lenin. It was so ridiculous and transparent as to be laughable. Yet these are the same staff members who would critique your work on a daily basis. Since negative comments seem to be encouraged at BA, be prepared to have snot-nosed recent graduates telling you you're "not thinking big enough" or some other drivel like that. I couldn't imagine a worse place for senior professionals to work. BA has high turnover of staff (no surprise). That combined with the horrible atmosphere at the place made my choice easy. I withdrew from consideration the very next day.